Book Analysis Guidelines

Air & Space Power Journal (ASPJ) publishes book reviews to inform our readers and enhance the content of articles in the journal. Books available for review are posted on our website at: https://www.airuniversity.af.mil/ASPJ/Books/. Reviewers are asked to analyze the book and provide an exclusive, original, unpublished, concise evaluation. The analysis should be written in an authoritative style using the following guidelines:

The first section of the analysis should normally be the shortest and indicate the type of book (biography, anthology, history, monograph, etc.). Include a very short author biographic citation and then describe the context of the book in the literature of the field. Again, this section should be brief.

Next, thoroughly analyze the thesis and arguments in the work. What are the strong points of the argument? What are the limitations in the work, including author biases? Is the thesis supported? What are the implications of the argument? Are there any profound aspects of the book? This section will be the longest part of the analysis.

Finally, the analysis should finish with recommendations for improvement. Clearly state whether this book is worth reading, who may find this book most interesting, and why.

Administrative Guidelines

All books are free to reviewers. Each analysis must be submitted electronically (in MS Word.doc format) within 45 days of book receipt. Limit your text to approximately 1,000 words, carefully edited. Select titles will be published in ASPJ on a space-available basis. All others will be published online. Analyses may be edited for length and style.

Include the following in the review heading: title, author, publisher, and number of pages. Sample heading:

Supreme Command by Eliot A. Cohen. The Free Press, 2002, 288 pp.

Also include your name and a brief author citation establishing your credentials as analyst.